Home, Part 1
by AnExtention
Summary: Follow Kula, Chumvi, Nala, Tojo, Malka, and Tama as they adjust to life after King Mufasa's death. Watch as they push the boundaries of what they can and can't do in this new way of life. Can they survive it?
1. Part 1, Chapter 1: The Begining

**Part 1, Chapter 1: The Begining**

How do you know your world has turned upside-down? Is it when you wake up everyday thinking, "Am I next?" or is it when you hope that you are next. You hope you are next, to escape the pain, to escape the torment, to escape reality. When there is no light at the end of the tunnel, what do you do? Do you just stop? Pray for a release? Most days, yes, I pray that I am next. I pray for all the wrong reasons though. My life is nothing but pain and misery.

The only one left is Tama. She says we are the lucky ones. Lucky to be alive. Lucky to still have a spark of hope. I doubt that. The lucky ones are the ones who escaped the neverending pain. And the hope died long ago.

There was never a thought like this back when we were cubs. Back then, there were seven of us. Simba, Nala, Tojo, Chumvi, Malka, Tama, and myself, Kula. Simba was the prince, Nala, unknown to all of us, even them, was betrothed to him, and us five, their loyal friends. How much that has changed. And it all did on one day, in the gorge, when both our King Mufasa and Prince Simba were killed.

It started like any other day, Simba was in trouble for something again the night before. He was always up to something shifty, although all of us were. We were just cubs then. Tojo woke us up at the crack of dawn, as usual. Most of us woke up, some slower than he wanted, Chumvi swatting him away at one point. By the time we had even gotten to the mouth of the cave, he was halfway down the steps of Priderock. Chumvi yawned.

"So it's going to be one of those days?"

I nudged him, "Chumvi, it's always one of those days and you know you love it." He shot me a look of annoyance but with a spark of some sort. He was very hard to figure out sometimes. That was Chumvi though. He never changed.

"Yeah, but it would be nice if I could get a bit more sleep, especially since the Sun isn't all the way up yet."

"Maybe if you weren't trying to catch rats at night you could get some more sleep," Tama said behind us.

"Well sorry, I wanted a nice midnight snack."

"Come on guys!" Tojo was at the bottom of Priderock by now. Impatient as ever. He had so much energy. At one point we wondered if he ever slept. By now Malka walked out of the cave having completed his morning ritual of cleaning himself. He always was well kept. He disliked the mud, water, dirt, well, anything that messed up his fur. He was never used to physical activities. He managed us, kept score, refereed, but he never actually played. It helped though, it kept the teams even. We even asked from time to time if he wanted to join. Every time he refused, always saying something about his fur.

"About time you joined us, pretty boy." I joked. He scoffed as always.

"You're just jealous you don't look like me." He pushed his paw through what little part of is tuft he had. We all laughed and started moving down Priderock to meet up with the ever-anxious Tojo.

"Finally, it took you all long enough! Let's get going!" Tojo started running off to the waterhole.

"Come on Tojo, we all don't run at a million miles per hour. Ease up and stick with us." Tama was almost yelling at him at this point. "And he wonders why we are all so tired by lunch." She spoke to us. We all laughed.

"So, where are Nala and Simba?" Noticing that they were not with us.

Chumvi looked back, "I heard they got in trouble last night. Nala came back right as the sunset with Zazu and Simba came back way later with Mufasa."

"Is that any surprise by now?" Malka laughed. All of us chuckled a little bit, knowing that we would all do the same. We all walked along the path to the watering hole, talking about the latest things our parents told us. Hyenas sightings, different lessons we've been taught, the usual. We all got to the watering hole and kinda split off, but still stayed together. Chumvi found some shade and started napping, Malka found a nice rock to tan on, Tojo went chasing whatever he could, and Tama and I had some quality girl time. About an hour later Nala came strolling to the watering hole. She sat down next to Tama and me. She seemed a little more down than usual.

"Morning." It was as if she had only slept for a few moments during the night.

"Morning Nala. You doing ok?" Tama asked worryingly.

"Kinda. We went a little beyond the borders to see what was out there. As soon as we were out of the Pridelands, hyenas attacked us. Mufasa saved us but the hyenas..."

"Wow. That's nuts." We had no words.

"Yeah, I guess we are fine now. Scar took Simba this morning, saying that his dad had a surprise for him." By this point, I wanted to change the subject to something a little more playful.

"Well, I'm about to prank Chumvi, if you guys want to join." I motioned to Chumvi laying under a tree napping.

"Well, what's the plan?" Nala smiled mischievously. A little while later, I was behind Chumvi and Nala and Tama was down by the waterbed, hiding and waiting. I bit his tail and woke him up. Then I bolted.

"Kula! I'm going to get you for that!" He darted towards me.

"No, you won't!" I yelled back, slightly giggling. Nala and Tama then pounced on him knocking him to the ground. I trotted back over to him, trying to fight his way out. He stopped the fight as I got closer. "Now are you awake sleepyhead?"

He sighed. "I guess." Nala and Tama got off of him. He then pounced me. I should have guessed it. I was a little too cocky though. "Told ya, I got you." He said playfully. I looked into his eyes, seeing something, but I didn't know what. It felt like ages that we were like this, but it couldn't have been more than a few seconds before,

"Oh, Kula has a boyfriend!" Tama cooed out. I looked over to Tama, who was making kissing faces, Nala looked at her and giggled a little. I looked back at Chumvi again. He was still looking at me. He rolled his eyes, smiled, and chuckled a little bit. He let me up and I walked back to them, a little bit embarrassed.

"Well, that didn't go to plan." I giggled

Then we all heard the sound of paws running along the waterline. Tojo came up to us.

"Hey, guys! Something is happening in the gorge! There is a ton of dust rising from it!" He pointed in the direction. Sure enough, there was a ton of dust rising. None of us knew of the terror of what was going on at the time. We didn't know we lost our king. We didn't know that we lost our prince, our friend. We had no idea.

"Should we go look?" Malka jumped off his rock.

"I don't know, I feel like we should tell our parents." Nala turned to Malka. A bit of concern grew in the group. This wasn't normal. I had a horrible gut feeling at the time, and I think everyone did. We all agreed to tell our parents about the dust. We were walking back to Priderock, about halfway back, when we saw Scar. We saw him sprinting, dusty, and very distraught. That never happened. Scar was always rather laidback. Then I head Nala.

"No. It can't be." She stopped for a moment, then started sprinting to Priderock. "NO!" Tama and I made eye contact and at the same time had the realization.

"Simba!" We both yelled out. The boys looked at us very worried.

"W-what's wrong?" Chumvi asked me.

"Scar took Simba this morning!" I yelled back. Chumvi's eyes widened. Tojo and Malka looked at each other.

"We have to get to Priderock! Now!" Tama yelled. We all were in a dead sprint, hoping for the best, fearing the worst. We knew that there was a connection between our friend and the dust rising in the gorge now. All we could do was hope. The news was worse than we thought. We arrived just as Scar was telling his story.

"That's when Mufasa and I arrived. He was stuck on a dead tree in the middle of the gorge. Mufasa and I jumped in to help but I was knocked out by a wildebeest. By the time I woke up…" He stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts. "King Mufasa was dead. Prince Simba was nowhere to be found." We all gasped. "I tried to find him but there was a rockslide by the side of the gorge not far from Mufasa's body and the tree Simba was on. I saw little paw prints leading to the rockslide, then, nothing. I can only assume the worst." He hung his head. Nala was crying into her mother's leg. Tama went to her mom. I sat down, trying to digest what I had just heard. I didn't see where Tojo and Malka went. Chumvi sat down next to me.

"This can't be happening." He said quietly.

We all waited around Priderock for the rest of the day, mourning the king and our friend. Eventually, night fell and the rest of the pride gathered at the base of Priderock. Scar then made the official announcement though we all already knew. It was what happened during the announcement that terrified us.

"Yet, out of the ashes of this tragedy, we shall rise to greet the dawning of a new era..." That's when we heard the laughter. Our pain and despair became shock and horror when we saw the shadows of the hyenas appear behind Scar. "...in which lion and hyena come together, in a great and glorious future!" The hyenas started flooding Priderock. Scar rose to the front of Priderock, like all the kings before him and roared signifying the Pridelands were his. We all walked back to the den so sleep the night away, praying this was all a dream. Chumvi walked up to me and laid down next to where I was. I laid down next to him and understood. We all did. We both cried each other to sleep that night. We had lost a king, a friend, and little did we know, but a future.


	2. Part 1, Chapter 2: Aftermath

**Part 1, Chapter 2: Aftermath**

We woke up the next morning like nothing had happened. I was curled up next to Chumvi, his paw wrapped around me. I looked outside the den and saw the sky, black except for the stars. There was not a thought as to what happened yesterday. I rolled over and looked at him. It was so peaceful. Then I heard something not too far away from me. It sounded like crying. I looked up and not too far away was Nala. Suddenly the pain hit. The realization that our king was dead, as was our friend, Simba. I felt helpless. No one was as close to Simba as Nala was. To lose a friend like this, and so young, it was earth-shattering to us, I couldn't imagine what Nala felt. I walked over to her and laid down with her. I didn't say anything. What could I say? I wasn't going to lie and say it was alright when we all knew this was a lie. All I could do was be a shoulder for her to cry on. I took her grief and pain and made it mine. I started crying too. There was nothing else to do. Eventually, the sun rose and a new day greeted us. For once, Tojo didn't come to try and wake us up. I looked over and saw him and Malka curled up together, Malka crying into Tojo's fur. It was weird to me but sweet at the same time. Tama eventually came over to Nala and I. It was clear she hardly got any sleep that night. I was starting to think Chumvi and I were the only ones who slept at all. I stood up to greet her. There were no words. We both looked at each other, seeing the pain in each other. We hugged, crying softly into each other's fur. We pulled away after a few moments, still saying nothing.

I decided to walk outside the den. I watched as the sun rose. Tears ran down my cheeks as I sat there. I felt a paw on my back. I looked over my shoulder and saw Chumvi.

"You ok?"

"I don't know anymore." I fell into him. He just held me there.

"It's ok Kula, it's ok." He rubbed my back as I sobbed in his fur. I felt some water hit my head. I look back at him. He was staring out into the sunrise, tears running down his cheeks. "It'll be ok."

Nothing could describe the pain we all felt. We spent the rest of the day mourning. We cried until there were no tears left to cry. Despite the pain, we knew we would have to move on, it's what Simba and Mufasa would want us to do. So we did. It wasn't by magic, we still missed our friend but there was no way to go back in time to save him. We all accepted this with heavy hearts. It was the first of many adult decisions we would have to make in the near future. We didn't know what was coming. No one could. Looking back though, it was inevitable. Scar started day by day making royal decrees. Some were sensible, some were different, and others outright insane. It was only a week after the death of Mufasa and Simba when Scar called for an emergency meeting outside Priderock.

"What do you guys think this is about?" Tama asked as we walked to Priderock. We were just at the watering hole, relaxing and recovering. We all still got very little sleep during the nights, missing our friend. Even Tojo was becoming visibly tired.

"I dunno, maybe something with the hunts?" Malka chimed in from the back. It was a good enough answer for us. We all mumbled in agreement. What else would call for an emergency meeting back to Priderock?

We all arrived back at the base of Priderock. We sat in our little group, waiting for the rest of the pride to show up. Soon everyone was present. Scar appeared from the den and made his way down to us. It was only here a week ago he told the pride the news of Simba and Mufasa's passing. Now here we have gathered again. There were some murmurs about what this was about, but none would be right. Scar spoke from a perched ledge, just above us all.

"Pridelanders! Effective immediately, all those who are not an immediate family member are now barred from the royal den! You may only do so if you have received a direct order from me." A collective shock hit the crowd. This effectively banned everyone from the den.

"You can't do this!" A voice rang from the crowd. The entire pride watch as Sarabi stepped out of the crowd. She walked closer to Scar, eyes burning. She was challenging Scar's decree. "This den has belonged to the pride for generations! No king has ever kicked out his own pride from this den!" She was just steps from Scar's perch.

"But I can! I am the king!" He announced boldly. With that, hyenas surrounded the group. "The penalty for disobeying this order will be death!" The hyenas gnashed their teeth at us.

"But where will the pride sleep?" Sarabi asked. "The hyena's have already taken all the spots in Priderock!"

"I'm sure you will find someplace. The Pridelands are quite large." The crowd gave a collective gasp. Not only were we banned from the den but we were kicked out of Priderock. "Oh, and let me know where you all plan to stay. The hyenas will be with you at all times." Scar said as he walked away. Sarabi snarled at Scar but he paid no attention to her. She started walking to the back of the group. Everyone made way for her as she walked by.

"Follow me." With that, the entire pride started following her to what would be our new home. We found a nice size cave nearby, right by the watering hole. The rest of the lioness moved inside and made it our home. A messenger left to inform Scar of our new home. Soon, she and several hyenas showed up. We felt the never-ending glare from Scar now. No matter what we did, he was watching. The hyenas were just an extension of him. They weren't scary in themselves but what they represented made us fear them. They were Scar. They were a constant reminder of him and his power. For the first time in our young lives, we were truly scared. We all huddled together in the farthest part of the den. We no longer enjoyed the light. We were too visible to the watchful eye. We tried to never be seen by the hyenas. It was impossible but we sure did try.


	3. Part 1, Chapter 3: Night

**Part 1, Chapter 3: Night**

"So this is it. This is home…" I sighed.

"It is now." Chumvi was close by as always. We looked back at the opening of the den. Outside was bright and we hated it. It represented Scar's watchful and powerful eye. Before we were afraid of the dark and embraced the light. Those roles had flipped now. We prayed for the night. We felt free, free from Scar's watch, free from the chains he was putting on us. Of course, we weren't, the hyenas were always watching, but the darkness helped hide us from their eye. We became accustomed to sneaking out of the den at night, just to be free. Soon we started sleeping during the day and going out at night. This is where our problems began though. We were becoming too careless at disappearing that eventually, Scar noticed. He called another emergency meeting at Priderock only a few weeks after we moved into our new home.

"There is now a curfew for all of you due to a certain bunch of pride members leaving the den at night. Everyone must be back in the den at sundown. The penalty for disobeying this order will be harsh." We all looked at each other. We knew we would have to get better at sneaking out of the den. We were not going to just stop because Scar said so. He was the exact reason we did this. This was the spark. This one collective thought planted the seeds of rebellion in our minds. We didn't know it at the time but it is clear now. Later we came back to the den. We had to think of a way to stop them from seeing us. We formed a circle in the back of the den. We dared not to speak above a whisper, knowing if we were caught talking about our plans we could be punished.

"So, what do we do now?" Tojo spoke.

"Well, we could try and sneak out one at a time," Tama recommended.

"Yeah, but would they notice that the den is missing some cubs?" Chumvi pointed out.

"Ture, what about rocks?" Tama pointed over to a few rocks at the edge of the cave. "We could use those as decoys. From how far back we are, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a cub and a rock." We all nodded in agreement.

"So tonight is going to be a test night, right?" I asked. "We place the rocks and hide in the den where they can't see us and see if they notice the difference?"

"Yeah, let's do that. I want to make sure that it will work. Plus it lets us see their pattern. We can see when the best times to seek out would be." Tojo piped up.

"So we are all in agreement then?" Malka asked. We all nodded our heads in agreement. That night we tested our trick. We all found rocks that roughly matched our size and moved them together. We then all hid in the den. The hyenas check the entrance of the den, thinking that they all had accounted for all the lions in the pride. The plan worked. From there, we all watched the patterns of the hyenas, seeing when they were visible. Eventually, we found that only one remained after a little while. After that, it usually fell asleep, making a great opportunity to escape. We never planned to get out that night but it was too perfect. We should have seen the trap. Of course, we were cubs and didn't know better. We all ran out at once. As soon as we did, we came face to face with Scar. His bright emerald eyes seemed to light up the sky. As soon as we saw them, we all screamed in a panic. Each of us tried to run in different directions but were immediately met with hyenas.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" He chuckled. Almost immediately the rest of the pride came running out of the den after hearing the screaming outside. We saw them and tried to run to them. Almost all of us made it. Almost.

Malak was grabbed by Scar as he tried to run back.

"NO!" Tojo yelled seeing this. He tried to run at Scar but we held him back. He was too much and was about to break free when,

"Don't Tojo. It's not worth it!" Malka yelled at him. His voice was surprisingly calm despite the circumstances. Tojo stopped struggling so much. We still had to hold him back but it was much easier.

"You better listen to your friends there cub! You don't want to end up in the same predicament he is in right now, do you?" Scar laughed menacingly. He then looked right at Malka. "You are going to wish you were never born!" Malka looked back defiantly.

"Do your worst." I wish he never said that. Scar laughed and took a swipe at him. Malka cried out in pain. The rest of the pride gasped. Malka covered his face, blood seeping through his fur. It was clear where Scar had struck. Right then, Scar took a massive swipe at Malka's now exposed chest. He cried out again. We were still holding back Tojo.

"Malka!" He cried out. Malka was now holding his chest and part of his face. Blood was everywhere.

"Enough!" Sarabi yelled. Her voice was stern and cool, like a knife cutting through the air. Scar looked up from Malka to meet the former queen's cold stare. "This cub has suffered enough."

"Very well, take him." We all rushed to Malka's side. He was badly hurt and bleeding profusely with three long and deep gashes over his chest and one across his eye. We did our best to move him back into the den without hurting him. "Let this be a lesson to all of you if you disobey my rules. Next time the punishment will be harsher." We overheard him saying as we retreated back to the den. With that, he left and the rest of the pride attended to a very injured Malka.


	4. Part 1, Chapter 4: Recovery

**Part 1, Chapter 4: Recovery**

The lionesses all rushed over and went to work on stopping the bleeding. Tojo went with them but wasn't able to do much

"Come on Malka, stay with me." Tojo was clutching one of Malka's paws. I was starting to lose hope that he would live. The wounds seemed too deep and there was so much blood. Malka was on the verge of losing consciousness.

"Tojo…" He then placed a paw on Tojo's face. For a second, time slowed to a halt. There was a spark between the too. It was clear and evident to everyone. "It will be alright." Malka managed to get out. Tojo took Malka's paw off his face and clutched it again. Tears ran down his face. With that, Malka lost consciousness.

"All we can do is hope." Sarabi came up behind us. "We will care for him overnight. You all get some rest." Everyone except for Tojo obeyed, he stayed with Malka, laying next to him.

The night flew by. Even though I didn't feel tired, I was quickly asleep. I must have been mentally exhausted. It felt like I only shut my eyes for a second and it was morning. I woke up and the sun was right on my face. I winced and tried to block the sun with my paw. I yawned and looked around. There I saw Tojo and Malka. Tojo's head rested on Malka's chest, close to where the gash was. I got up and went over to the two. There was still blood around and on Malka but it looked like the bleeding had stopped. I sighed when I saw Malka's chest rising and falling slowly. Tojo must have heard me and turned his head to look at me. His chin was soaked in blood. I walked a little closer, quietly, not wanting to wake the others in the den.

"How is he?" More of a rhetorical question. Tojo looked back at Malka.

"He's alive." There was no emotion in his voice. He looked back at me and the light shone on his face. I could see his bloodshot eyes and the tear stains in his fur. "How could he do this? How could a king hurt a cub like this?" He looked back at Malka again. I didn't know what to say. I had no answers. I could only be there for him. I started walking closer, into the blood, some of which had not dried yet. I walked up to Tojo and laid next to him and put a paw around him. He buried his head into my fur and started, or should I say continued, crying. I could only be there for him. I looked at Malka's face for the first time and saw an all too familiar scar. This scar wasn't just to hurt Malka, but to send us all a message. Scar was watching and would be part of our lives at every moment.

Tojo eventually fell asleep as I was holding him. I assumed that he was up all night watching Malka. Eventually Chumvi walked over to us. Tojo was still asleep and Malka was still unconscious.

"So how are they?"

"Well, Malka's alive and I think Tojo has been with him all night long. Look at Malka's face though." I pointed to the scar above his left eye. Chumvi sighed a little, then chuckled.

"So is that supposed to scare us?" I looked at him in shock. "Just think, Scar did this to a cub, because of cubs. Scar did this because he is scared of us. Scar is scared of six cubs traveling around the Pridelands at night." I thought about it a little. Maybe he was right, but why would Scar be afraid of some cubs?

"But maybe he is caring for our safety?" I asked, not even believing the question.

"Look at Malka, that is not caring for a cub's safety. Caring for a cub's safety would be scolding them, not almost killing them. Scar is scared of us and we need to find out why." Chumvi was determined now. With every word he spoke, there was power. By this point, he didn't care who was sleeping. I felt Tojo raising his head out of my fur. Tama and Nala had trotted over to see what was going on.

"What's this talk about Scar being scared?" Tama asked.

"Scar is scared of us and Malka is proof," Chumvi responded with the same power as before.

"Ok, what can we do about it though? Scar is the king and we are cubs. Plus, he has about a million hyenas to protect him. We would never be able to do anything." Nala chimed in.

"So we spy on him, blackmail him. Set up a whole system that lets the other prides in the area know our situation." Chumvi was rambling at this point. It was very clear that he was fired up about doing this.

"You will do no such thing," A voice came from behind us. "Especially after what happened last night." We all turned around to see Sarabi looking at us. She came over to us. "I appreciate your enthusiasm and courage Chumvi, but as Nala said, you all are still cubs. Leave this to the lionesses."

"So I'm right?" Chumvi had a little sparkle in his eyes.

"Maybe, but what happened last night was an overreaction and went far beyond what anyone should have done. You all stay in the den for the next couple of days. Under no circumstances are you to leave and we will make sure of that. Understood?" We all nodded. "Good, during the hunts, someone will be in the den with you. They will make sure no one is misbehaving and that Malka recovers." Sarabi left us to think about what we were going to do in the den for the next few days.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to stick with Malka for the next few days." Tojo piped up from behind me. We all left Tojo to be with Malka, not in spite, but because we knew they needed their time alone together. The four of us formed a circle in the corner of the cave. Chumvi spoke first.

"Tonight we start."


	5. Part 1, Chapter 5: Prepare

**Part 1, Chapter 5: Prepare**

I couldn't believe what he was saying.

"What?" The three of us said in unison.

"You heard me, tonight we start spying on Scar." Chumvi kept his voice low so the lionesses would not hear.

"Like I said before, we are just cubs. And Sarabi said the lionesses were taking care of it." Nala also kept her voice low but the sternness of the tone was not lost.

"But the lionesses have to hunt and bend to every whim and wish of Scar. They won't have time to do anything. We have the whole day and night." His enthusiasm from before was still there.

"Ok there genius, how do you think we will get the news out to the other prides? We, as Nala has been saying, are just cubs. I don't even know where the closest other pride is. And what makes you think they would take news from a cub to begin with?" Tama was a little bit more sarcastic.

"Well, we have a few days to think of that now don't we?" Chumvi lost a little of his energy with that.

"You think that out then, for now, we need to make sure the hyenas don't eat us. I want to enjoy dinner, not be it." Tama walked off.

"Kula," Chumvi looked at me. "What do you think?"

I stepped back, not liking the spotlight being shown on me, even though it was only Nala and Chumvi. "I… Um…" I looked at Nala but she gave me no answers. "Well, I do think we need to figure out what is going on because this," I showed my paw, still covered in Malak's blood, "should never happen again." Chumvi's eyes lit up. "But Nala and Tama are right, what can we do?"

Chumvi thought for a few moments, "Well, for now, I say we just gather information. Then we can wait until we get bigger or have a lioness who we trust to bring it to another pride."

"And how do we trick the lionesses that we are still here? Not only that but the hyenas, how would you get past them?" Nala still seemed skeptical.

Chumvi thought for another moment. "We wait for night to spy on him. This helps us in many ways, one being that all the lionesses will be asleep, exhausted from hunting and most of the hyenas would be asleep."

"And for the hyenas that are still awake? You know they can smell you." I questioned this time.

"Uh, well, I'll come up with that eventually." Chumvi saw he was losing more support.

"Look, let us know if and when you get a proper plan in place that won't get us killed, then I may consider it, but only if you get a good plan in place, nothing on the spot." Nala walked away. Chumvi hung his head, visibly defeated.

"Chumvi, look at me." He raised his head, his eyes meeting mine. "I don't want what happened last night to happen again, or worse. I will help you, but we need a plan. Then we will need to do it first to convince the others that it is safe." Chumvi stood up, knowing that he had an ally.

"Alright then, lets come up with something."

We went and sat further in the corner of the den, hoping the lionesses would not hear us.

"So, how do exactly get to Priderock without being seen or smelled?" I asked. Chumvi was passing back and forths.

"Well, we should use the grass to not only conceal us but our tracks. That'll make it easy but I don't know how to conceal our scent." He was still pacing.

I kicked a rock and it landed near a pile of feces in another corner of the den, then I had an idea, a disgusting one, but an idea. "So, hear me out on this one, what if we smelled like them, the hyenas." Chumvi wasn't paying attention to what I was looking at.

"That would be great, but how would we do that?" He was still pacing. I grabbed his head and spun it the corner of the cave I was looking at. "Oh, I see." Then the realization hit him and he recoiled in disgust. "EW! Gross! Why would I do that?"

"Well, you want to spy on Scar, you will have to smell like a hyena and that means we will have to find some hyena dung. We will have to wash it off at the end of the night though because I don't think the lionesses will want that smell in here and might get a little suspicious if they smelled that in here." Chumvi sat down and thought about it.

"Yeah, I don't see any other way around it. Looks like we are really getting dirty tonight then."


	6. Part 1, Chapter 6: Mission

**Part 1, Chapter 6: Mission**

It was just after sundown when Chumvi and I told Nala and Tama our plan.

"You're doing what?!" Was Tama's reply, Nala gaged a little.

"We don't have a choice," I asked. "Scar has something against us and we need to figure out what."

"I mean, it's unconventional, I guess it'll work though," Nala said after almost losing her dinner.

"I'll trust it when you two come back alive." Tama was still not trusting the plan.

We waited for the lionesses to go to sleep and Chumvi and I headed out. Luckily the hyenas that were stationed near the den were not back from their patrol of the area and even better for us, there was some dung in the area. Chumvi rolled in it first, then I did, almost puking in the process.

"Oh, this is disgusting." Chumvi lifted his front paw and smelled it. He immediately regretted it, visibly gagging. "Don't try to smell it, it gets worse."

"Yeah, thanks, I'll try." That was impossible. It reeked.

We trotted to Prideriock without saying a word. We came up to a small hill that overlooked our old home. What I saw sent chills down my spine. There was Priderock but it no longer felt and looked like home. It had a menacing feel to it now, especially in the dark. It didn't help to see all the hyenas surrounding the grounds and hills. Any wrong move and they would all be on us.

"Wow…" Chumvi must have thought the same thing as me as he said in quiet disbelief.

"How do we do this?" I asked.

"Look." Chumvi pointed to the back of Priderock. There were no hyenas as far as we could tell. We looked at each other and moved from our hill. We stuck close by in the grassy areas and moved quickly and quietly. Every time we thought someone was nearby, we laid flat to the ground. We were paranoid, or at least I was the whole time. I looked over at Chumvi several times but he never seemed to share the same feeling. Every time he seemed stone-cold, focused on the mission.

Sometime later we got to the back of Priderock without being spotted. We found a small hole in the back that led directly into the main den. I looked in and could see my younger self curled up in the corner of the den sleeping away. It sent shivers down my spine again. I could see the whole pride sleeping away, Mufasa and Sarabi both sleeping on a slight rise over us all. I had to snap back to reality and remind myself of what that place was. It was no longer safe here, no longer home. I looked again and saw Scar curled up where Mufasa and Sarabi used to sleep, this time though, he was alone, no hyenas, no other lions, only Scar.

"Take a look." I moved out of the way to let Chumvi see in.

"He's alone, we could end this now!" Chumvi started digging at the loose rocks surrounding the hole, trying to get in. I pulled him away from the hole.

"Chumvi, what are you doing? You could wake him up!" I understood what he wanted to do but we were still cubs, what could we do. "We can work on this but we have to do this one step at a time. For now, let's just report this to Tama and Nala. We can work on a plan from here." There was a fire in his eyes, he wanted Scar dead. He started to walk away.

"Fine. But we come up with a plan to kill him. It's either him or us and I don't plan on going out without a fight." With that, we walked away from Priderock. We found some good intel and how to stay hidden. The next day we would bring Nala and Tama, maybe even Tojo if he was up for it. It was now time to get back to our den.


End file.
